StartDocW function (wingdi.h)

Article
02/09/2023

The StartDoc function starts a print job.

Syntax

int StartDocW(
  [in] HDC            hdc,
  [in] const DOCINFOW *lpdi
);

Parameters

[in] hdc

A handle to the device context for the print job.

[in] lpdi

A pointer to a DOCINFO structure containing the name of the document file and the name of the output file.

Return value

If the function succeeds, the return value is greater than zero. This value is the print job identifier for the document.

If the function fails, the return value is less than or equal to zero.

Remarks

Note This is a blocking or synchronous function and might not return immediately. How quickly this function returns depends on run-time factors such as network status, print server configuration, and printer driver implementation—factors that are difficult to predict when writing an application. Calling this function from a thread that manages interaction with the user interface could make the application appear to be unresponsive.

Applications should call the StartDoc function immediately before beginning a print job. Using this function ensures that multipage documents are not interspersed with other print jobs.

Applications can use the value returned by StartDoc to retrieve or set the priority of a print job. Call the GetJob or SetJob function and supply this value as one of the required arguments.

Examples

For a sample program that uses this function, see How To: Print Using the GDI Print API.

Note

The wingdi.h header defines StartDoc as an alias which automatically selects the ANSI or Unicode version of this function based on the definition of the UNICODE preprocessor constant. Mixing usage of the encoding-neutral alias with code that not encoding-neutral can lead to mismatches that result in compilation or runtime errors. For more information, see Conventions for Function Prototypes.

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]
Target Platform	Windows
Header	wingdi.h (include Windows.h)
Library	Gdi32.lib
DLL	Gdi32.dll

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